Sinking foundation



y 9, 1933- D. E. MORAN 1,907,854

SINKING FOUNDATION Filed July 2, 1931 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Inventor u %/z,1 fizz/9*, A y: I

May 9, 1933.

D. E. MORAN :SINKING FOUNDATION Filed July 2, 1951 4 Sheets-Sheet '2 Q/i/V/ELZMOE/l/V.

A llorneys May 9, 1933. D. E. MORAN SIN'KING FOUNDATION 4 Shets-Sheet 3 Filed July 2, 1931 UOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Q O Invcn lor A/Q/EL Z. MEAN.

o ooo KM M Wm F 5 6 /d W/ A ooooooopo May 9, 1933. D. E. MORAN SINKING FOUNDATION Filed July 2, 1951 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 flllorneys structure.

Patented May 9, 1933 f UNITED STATES DANIEL E. MORAN, OF.MEN"DH&AM}.NEW JERSEY i I smxme FOUNDATION Application filed July 2,193.1. Serial N0, 54;&,'3 3;5,

In the so called dredging method, piers,

foundations and other constructions are sunk through sand, clay and othermaterials to a firmer material, suitable for founding the is generally constructed as a floating structure which is built up until it grounds on the bottom of the river or otherbody of Water, or if the site is above water level the structure may be built in place to a convenient height. The structure is then sunk by removing the material below the structure, by dredging through open wells, which may be described as being, vertical open cells extending from top to bottom of the structure; these'cells being made of a cross section sufficient to permit the operation of the dredging apparatus. The. exterior walls of the structure being sunk serve to prevent the unexcavated material surrounding the structure from caving in.

It is found in practice that while it is practicable to remove the materialdirectly under the open wells, it is frequently diflicult to remove the material under the structural walls surrounding the open wells. It is found in practice that .it is convenient to incorporate cells other than the dredgingwells in the structure. These cells having closed bottoms and being occupied by air serve as floating chambers; in other words, the structure is made cellular forlightness. Subsequently the floating cells mayor may notbe filled with concrete. V

My invention relates to means for removing or facilitating the removal of the natural material directly below the walls of the structure, and especially the external walls. In certain designs, in order to reduce the amount of material under these external walls, the

external walls have been reduced in thickness to the minimum thickness consistent with strength. The lower end of the walls has been formed into a wedge so as to facilitate the motion of the material from the space In the case for instance of a bridge pier, the'lower portion of the structure below the wall inward, to the space below the dredging well. Notwithstanding these efforts, it still remains a difficult and sometimes. an impracticable task to remove the material under the external walls. 7 During the proo+ 5 ess of sinking the structure, it is in general desirable to have thestructure'heavy' so as to. cause it to sink. This requirement is met by making the wallsthick and the dredgin wells small, but this in turn increases the 'di cult of removing the material'iunder 'the' thic walls. My invention is to provide means for moving this naterial even if the Walls bethick. I P1 In the ordinary dredging operation the ex- 9 cavation by dredge may extend down to or below the level of the exterior walls, leaving a wall offnatural material exposed on the sidetoward the dredging well, but continuous withthe material outside" of the wall, as g i The cohesion of the material immediately-below the exterior wall to thematerial outside of the wallcontribut'es to thestrengh of this natural material and to its resistance to motion toward the dredgingwell; My invention 70 provides means for destroying this cohesion, and provides means for producing motion of the natural f material under the exterior wall into the space belowthe dredging well. I

It has been customary to attempt to re 7;? move this material by the} use of jets and cutting tools operated from the surface through the water contained in the dredging well and controlled through the instrumentality of long connecting pipes or structural 89 parts extending from the surface to the bottom of the strucure. Y i

It is evident that such devices are diflicult to control When'the depth of the water is great,

sometimes considerably over 100 feet in depth. 3.5

These appliances must be lowered through the water and held in correct position to effectively workon the material'to be removed; for which'purpose, they must be movable laterally under the wall. Moreover, the; action 9.

" terial outside of the wall.

position accurately so that it will operate on the material below the wall and in the direction toward the well.

In other cases progress has been made by the use of hydraulic jets orjets of compressed air, acting from the surface through pipes contained in the structure, whichpipes had fixed orifices directing the jet at certain points in certain definite directions toward the material [to be removed. In order to snake this use of the jets effective it is necessary to use an enormous number of jets and jet pipes and the method is only effective where the material in the direction in which the jet acts. 7

In my invention I provide a series of vertical openings extending from the top to the 7 bottom of the structure immediately inside the outer of the walls of the structure. I con nect the outer skin or surface of the structure with the main structureby constructing vertical walls .at frequent intervals. These walls may bethin so that the vertical openings are practically continuous following the periphery; of the outer wall or the vertical openings may be formed in the body of the wallandinterspaced as desired. They serve topermit the use, in any opening, of a jet pipe, which can be lowered through the opening to the bottom of the structure and which may be used to excavatethe material immediately. below the opening to any required depth. For this purpose the jet may be directed downward and the excavated mate rial may. be carried upward through the opening to the surface, as is ordinarily done in the case, of sinking pipes by the hydraulic jet; The excavated material under these conditions may in some cases move into the .dredgingwell. If desired the jet may have an opening directing a portion of the jet downward, and a second opening directing a portion or all of the jet laterally. Means may be employed. abovewater level to direct the lateral jet in anydirection and at any level. Also, means may be employed to close either of saidopenings automatically from the surface and so concentrate the jet action in any direction desired. In the use of a jet through the vertical opening which I provide, the lat- -eral position of the jetrelative to thewall is 5 fixed by the opening itself, so that its action yields to the jet, and only.

is concentrated directly under the wall. This avoids the difficulty of locating jets inside the well or outside the pier. But the jet may be rotated so as to act in any desired direction, and raised or lowered so as to act at any desired level.

In case the material beneath the'wall does not yield to a jet, I may use a cutting chisel operated from the surface through the opening. Such a cutting chisel known as the Lobnitz chisel will effectively cut a trench in rock or other solid material to any required depth directly below the several openings, or

Imay use any drilling device, operating same from the surface through said openings to permit the placing of explosives in the material below the wall and at a safe distance below the bottom of the wall so that said material may be shattered, loosened and removed conveniently toward the well. Or I may use these openings to permit the placement, along a line adjacent to the exterior face of the outer wall, of a'downward extension ,of the structure'itself below the bottom of the wall. As a special case of the latter use, I may use the opening to introduce anchoring spuds consisting of long, strong structural members, such as wooden piles, wooden timbers, or steel rolled sections, which may be dropped from the surface through the opening and driven or otherwise placed in the material under the walls and inline with the outer face of said wall. Such spuds are effective means for connecting a floating construction such as the caisson structure with the bottom of the riverfor the purpose of anchoring or positioning the caisson at its desired location. j 2 1 V In certain cases it may be desirable to extend the excavation to agreater' depth than it is possible, or desirable, to sinktlie caisson. In such Case I may use the openings to drive from the surface structural members forming a practically continuous downward extension of the structure in line with the exterior face of the structure. In various pat ents there is described a method of driving such a continuous wall close to the external face of the structure. The said wall was placed outside of the caisson and was driven by means necessarily employed outside of the structure. Consequently this work had to be done through the material exterior to the caisson and without means for insuring the position or direction of the work. I

The accompanying drawings illustrate an embodiment of the invention more'or less diarigs. 6, 7 anfais refveia'ieai"statorsnine:- trating different methods.

Figs t) and are ve t ons. of a j Pip Referring to the 1ah',;1 l f1 the pier er .a. f has silt L. i braces 1, transverse braces 2 and an outer wall 21. l aving dr wens te r er the earth, ro clcor othermaterial is removed.

The main wall 3 is enclosedwithin ninher', shell 5. of steel. Surrounding the pier. and spaced therefrom is an'out'r steel wall 6 connected to theinner wallat intervals by braces 7. In a large pier, for example, the main wall 3 may be 5 or 6 feet thick, the space between the shells 4 and 5 may be about 1 foot wide and the space between the connectors or braces 7 may be 2 or 3 feet; these connectors being steel plates or shapes so that they'occupy very little space in thickness and leave aperipheral space around the outside of the pier which is practically continuous in the sense that it permits access to the material;

below the pier along a continuous line around the outside. These openings extend from an accessible top level clear to the bottom to permit the introduction and manipulatlon of the various tools above referred to for separating the earth immediately below the wall from the surrounding earth and to permit the introduction and control of structural members to form extensions beyond the lower edge of the pier wall. 7

Figs. 2 and 3 show the lower edge portion 8 of the wall with its inner face flared outward and faced with a plate 9 shown best in Fig. 3 where the concrete is omitted'in order to show the steel work more fully. The

. dredging well 4 is lined with sheet steel 10 which is connected to the shell 5 by cross girders 11 at intervals; forming a vertical space between the inner shell 5 on one side and the plates 9 and 10 on the other slde,

which is filled with concrete.

Outside of the outer shell 6 there is 1mposed a Vertical cutting plate 12 extending substantially throughout the height of the beveled portion of the wall and downward bevond the shell 6 to protect the lower edge of the latter.

The space between the inner and outer shells 5 and 6 surrounding the wall of the rtical and hardener caisson is built of concreteiwith"longitudinal;

5la'hd be used as water or air condiiitsi Tlie'outer shell 6n1ay have openings through it at intervals. J ets of air or water may be forced throng-h these openings to lubricate theout'er face of the shell and lessen its adhesion to'the surrounding earth. The outer shell 6, and alsothe inner shell 5, need notbe solid plates. Openings'may be made in them to lighten the structure. Infact it is only necessary. that there be enough structural niie'tal't'o form guiding andholding means for the instruments and p ur'p oses above stated.

Instead of the metal structure around the pier shown Figs. 1 to 4,' the outer shell may be of concrete integral with that of the body of .thevpier. Fig. 5 shows such a construction, 4 The main wall 3 is surrounded by an outer wall 6 connected integrally to the main wall by connectors 7 which are integral webs of concrete between the closely spaced openings 13. The openings extend. clear to the bottom as explained in connection with Fig. 1 to permit the introduction and control of tools or structural members.

Fig. 6 illustrates the use of chisel bars 14 to drill a line of holes '15 in therocky bottom 16. In some materials these drills will formv practically an annular excavation. Inharder rock there will be a series of holes which can beconverted into' an annular excavation withdrawing the drills and introducing explosives. 1 j j j Fig. 7 shows the useof a pipe 17 at'the lower end of which is a lateral jet nozzle 18 6 i V s which forms a sort of annular trough 19 V 8 shows the use in an analogousway of a jet pipe 20 with its orifice directed'down- 'ward so asto cut an annular trench 21.

The jet pipe may be arranged as in Figs. 9. and 10,.to. direct the air orwater jet either downward or laterally (inward or outward) as may be desirable under special circumstances. The pipe 22 is supplied from the hose 23 and has at its lower end a sort of valve casing 24 with a lateral outlet 25 and a vertical outlet 26." An annular valve 27 mounted in a casing to rotate about a ver tical axis. and is carried by a stem 28 which extends through a cap 29 on the top of the pipe and carries a handle at its outer end.

The valve is shown set to direct the jet downwarm By turning the handle it will cause the jet to issue laterally. In the intercoin niinication with both branches of the its iio

'niediate position, the opening 30 will be in 1; A hollowfoundation pier having a. multiplicity of vertical bottomless passages formed in an integral part of said pier at the outer surface thereof forming a practically continuous annular opening around and.

adjacent to the exterior face of the pier, perjmitting the use of selective and adjustable tion of said devices.

2. A concrete foundation pier having around'its body portion a shell of concrete integral with the body and connected thereto by comparatively thin webs leaving a number of vertical bottomless openings-forming practically continuous openings around and adj acent'to the exterior face of the pier permitting the use of selective and adjustable devices for separating the earth below the pier wall from the surrounding earth, the walls of said openings forming meansfor controlling the position and direction of said de- Vices.

3. The foundation pier of claim 1 in com- 3 bination with jet pipes carried in said openlugs and means for directing ets at the lower ends of said pipes both laterally and vertically downward. I Y V 4. The foundat on pier of claim 1 in com- I bination with the devices referred to therein adapted to form a practically continuous a nnular hole in the material below'the cutting edge of the pier, said pier having an interior dredging well through which the material in the cuttingedge can be removed. v V

5. A hollow foundation pier having a wall around the exterior surface of saidpier and spaced therefrom, and retaining means in the space between said wall and said pier and serving to unite said wall to saidpier and to separate the annular space between said Wall and said'pier into separate sections and form guide and control means for devices extendmy name.

i DANIEL, E. MQRAN.

ing' downwardly through said space to the I earth below said pier wall.

6. A foundation pier having a pierlstruc ture, an inner metal'shellsecured tothe'exterior of said structure and movable there-v with and an outer metal shell'spaced from said inner metal shell and rigidly secured thereto, the space between said shells being open at the bottom. v i 7. A foundation pier having a hollow central part and exterior walls sloping upwardly from their bottom outer edges to the hollow inner portions, vertical passages at the outer surface of said wall exten ding from the top to the bottomthereof and opening inwardly to the upwardly sloping bottom face of said wall, said passages being an integral part of said pier and forming a continuous annular space for the insertion of tools therethrough.

8. A foundation pier having a hollow central part and exterior walls sloping inwardly from their bottom outer edges to thehol- 

